Endeavour: Encounters, stories and objects of the ship that changed the world. 
Australian National Maritime Museum. 
2023. 
52 pages. 
ISBN 978-176145077-8

The publication examines stories about the historic vessel’s 14 years (1764-1778) of active service and about recent searches for the wreck.  She was launched in 1764 as Earl of Pembroke, renamed in 1768 as Bark Endeavour and ended up being scuttled in Newport, Rhode Island, under the name Lord Sandwich.

I challenge the view given in the book that Endeavour represents “invasion” and ongoing dispossession of the indigenous people.  There ought to be no doubt or confusion that the arrival of Endeavour in 1770 and that of the First Fleet in 1788 were separated by 18 years.  And by then, Cook’s vessel had already been scuttled and Cook was already dead.

The greatest disappointment for me when reading this book was the omission of vital information in the eight pages about the Endeavour replica built in Fremantle Western Australia.  There is an over emphasis in the eleven pages about the wreck.  After the introduction there are 21 essays grouped into four sections.  The first section, “A journey of science and exploration”, covers the ship’s life up to her exploration of the east coast of Australia.  The next section, “Encounters and perspectives” considers what happened at Endeavour River, and the view the Europeans had of the Aboriginal people and vice-versa, then and now.  The third section, “A new Endeavour”, summarises the building of the replica and what she is like.  The final section, “Discovering the wreck”, describes the search for the ship in America, especially that of the marine archaeologists.

Although Dr Kathy Abbass of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeological Project (RIMAP) confirmed in 1999 the link between Lord Sandwich and Endeavour and RIMAP has been engaged in identifying 13 scuttled vessels over a quarter of a century, this Australian book is more about the work of archaeologists from the Australian National Maritime Museum, with little acknowledgment to the years of work by RIMAP.

This publication is full of wonderful colourful photographs and illustrations, some of which have never been seen before.  I recommend you purchase a copy to add to your collection of Endeavour books.

Debbie Gibson

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 31, volume 47, number 4 (2024).